Emachine restore xp still virus

[K2K2]

Hi, this is my first time here so I will try to make this short and sweet. The computer I am refering to is my sister's so I am working from memory here. It is an emachine with a restore disc version of XP supplied with purchase. She was running an outdated verion of Norton Antivirus, by time she relized there was a problem it was enormous and her system crashed. Using the restore disc from the manufacturer, we did a full restore. She lost all information and programs, but in minutes the viruses were returning. We downloaded adaware, spybot, and AVG. Got a system clear and were reinfected by morninging (with out using the computer). Is it my imagination or is the system restore not totally formatting the hard drive and we have something in the background letting these viruses in. I am no computer wiz, but can follow instruction pretty well and have reformatted my own computer with much success. Any ideas or suggestions? If it helps she has an 'always on' internet connection through the phone company, no router or firewall (I know it is not the safest, but is it the cause here?). Thanks in advance!

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

I would say without question, that running the computer without a firewall is what`s causing the problem.

First download one of the free firewalls. Either zonealarm from http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?lid=dbtopnav_za

Or Agnitum outpost from http://www.agnitum.com/download/

Once you have downloaded the firewall, don`t install it, burn it to cd.

Disconnect her computer from the internet, then reformat and reinstall the os.

Once the os is installed, install the firewall, and then and only then connect to the internet.

Then go and get the latest Windows updates for her os.

Also may I suggest that once everything is ok, that you download Firefox from www.mozilla.org. It really is a lot safer than IE.

If you still have problems after doing this, please post back.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[K2K2]

Thanks for the help...Is it true that if you use a router it acts as a firewall?

 

[Spike]

well, it's kinda true and kinda not.

what happens is that the router itself is connected to the internet, and computers are connected to the router. The router is the machine/hardware with the IP, and so it's visible to the internet. The computers connected to it though are not directly visible to the web - only through the router if you know how to do it and where to look for a specific machine on the network.

A router will stop a lot of rubbish hitting your machine, but may not stop a determined cracker or similar.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

To be a bit more specific: most (but not all) routers also have a built-in hardware firewall. This is your first defense.
PCs with always-on connections should have both a hardware AND a software firewall, as well as a reliable antivirus program.
In your case, dump that Norton and get the free AVG from http://free.grisoft.com

 

[abbydabbydoo]

Proper OS Restore for XP Machine.

Most likely the operating system that is on the factory restore disk is XP Service Pack 1. (SP1) It only takes about 5 minutes with an XP SP1 machine on the Internet to get a virus. After that it doesn't take long to get loaded up with viruses.

To check for XP version, go to the System Control Panel. If it doesn't say Service Pack 2 under the Operating System, you are on SP1.

If you do an OSR with anything that has XP SP1, you need to then patch with XP SP2 disk before you even put the machine online again. Once patched up with XP Service Pack 2 (making sure you activate the windows firewall in SP2) you can then put an antivirus on the system (AVG) is good and then put the machine online and go for all of the Microsoft Patches all 89 or whatever number of them. Once done, you can put anything else on the machine that you want and your sister's machine should be ok provided she keeps up with her antivirus, microsoft patches and keeps her windows firewall turned on.